Sports Betting Money Management Skills

Moneyline Sports vs. Spread Sports

Many bettors like to stay away from moneyline-based sports, such as baseball and hockey, due to the extremes in winning percentages, but they can be very profitable. Betting on the underdog in moneyline sports will likely give you a losing record, but the payouts for winners will be so much higher that your profits will increase. Below is a section of a results page for MLB Smart Money plays. Notice that five out the six books have losing records for the triggered plays, but that all six have significant units won due to underdog payouts.

The other side of the coin is betting on favorites, which will give you a strong winning percentage, but can still produce a loss in money. Betting on teams like the Yankees or Red Wings will consistently put your odds in the -200s or higher. If you average odds of -200, you would need that team to win 67% of the time to break even. If your average odds go any higher, you’ll need to win 70% or more to not lose money.

For example, if you wager on the Yankees every game of the season (162 games) and they average -200 odds for the season, you would need them to win 109 games just to break even. To turn any substantial profit you would need them to break the single-season win record (116).

Okay bettors, you know what “units won” means, and you want to win some “Units” right? So put that knowledge to use pronto and strike while the iron is hot! Situs Judi Bola Resmi Terpercaya

Properly managing your bankroll is one of the most important factors when attempting to become a successful sports investor. Following two standard rules can help reduce your risk of ruin and maximize the effectiveness of a solid sports betting system.

Flat Betting

We recommend a flat-betting system where your bet size is the same for each wager. Flat betting allows you to ride the ups and downs of investing and minimizes the the chance of going broke during a losing streak.

Unit Size

While experienced investors sometimes bet 4%-5% of their entire bankroll per unit, we take a more conservative approach and recommend a unit size of 1%-3%, especially for beginners, of your bankroll.

To learn more about money management and bet size, check out our sports betting articles.

Money Management and a “Good Defense” Most of us focus on betting systems and strategies that will be profitable. After all, without a good betting system, we won’t make any money, right? The same thing can be said about “money management.” That is, if you don’t pay attention to money management, you might not be able to take that “next” step to becoming a “sports investor.” Good money management will reduce the chances of extreme losses and help turn this “hobby” into a legitimate “investment.”

In the world of finance, many professionals use the phrase “risk management” and “money management” interchangeably. What are we trying to do when we focus on “money management?” In simple words, we’re trying to “manage our money” – or “manage our risk.” Our goal is to preserve our capital or hard-earned money. We want to minimize the chances for loss – or in a larger sense, minimize our “risk of ruin.”